My wife started sleeping on the edge of the bed.
Not close to me.
Not touching me.
Just… far.
One night I asked why?
She said she was hot.
The next night I asked again.
She said the mattress was uneven.
On the third night I didn’t ask.
I just moved to the couch.
At 3 a.m. she came looking for me.
She stood there in the dark and said,
“Why are you out here?”
I looked at her and answered,
“I got tired of sleeping next to someone who already left.”
She started crying.
I didn’t move.
Because for the first time in months,
I wasn’t the one being left behind.